Welcome Clive!

Thanks,

I have been interested in Epicurus (and Democritus, Lucretius, Philodemus, and Diogenes of Oenoanda, etc) for several years, now (I have forgotten how long it has been since I first read about Epicurus). I have various other interests, too, which would probably, mostly, be off-topic on this site. I don't study Epicureanism full time and I am not an expert with regard to, either Epicureanism, or philosophy in general.

I am retired and I live in Norwich, England. I do quite a lot of reading in connection with my various interests. I don't know what else to say, really. What else would you like to know about me?

Quote from Clive

I am retired and I live in Norwich, England. I do quite a lot of reading in connection with my various interests. I don't know what else to say, really. What else would you like to know about me?

We are not so far! At last still in Europe.

Some time ago, I started looking for sites about Epicurean philosophy and related topics on the internet. I stored all of the ones that I found in my browser 'bookmarks'. I finally decided that to register with this one, so I logged into it. It usually takes me a while to actually register for new internet sites, because I find the registration procedures, and having to generate new passwords, a bit irksome. But I didn't really have any problems registering for this site, after I finally decided to do it.

michelepinto,

True, Europe is not so far. I have no intention of leaving Europe, although unfortunately the country where I live has decided to do so. It wasn't my idea. I voted to 'remain'.

Welcome Clive!

Thanks Martin

Cassius,

Where did you encounter these "stiff-upper-lipper" stoical English persons? Was it in the US?

Actually we are a mixed bunch. I did know a diagnosed paranoid-schizophrenic English person who said he was a "stoic". He used to try to argue with me about it. But he spent most of his childhood in British colonial Aden and Fiji and then came back to "grey, depressing, England" to be sent to an English 'public school', so he probably had a lot to put up with, one way and another. Sadly he died recently. I miss the talks that I used to have with him about Hellenistic philosophy and other topics.

I am not only "English", but I am descended from long lines of English rural folk, all from the county of Dorset, at least as far back as the 17th century. They were not Epicureans, some of them were Methodists, who could be a bit puritanical. One family member was transported to Botany Bay for being an early attempted trade unionist, then he was reprieved and came back to Dorset. Another was imprisoned in the Winchester Bridewell for poaching. So that might have been enough to make people stoical. But the family relatives who I remember were not really stoics.

After I was expelled from from school, at a young age, for not being sufficiently "stiff-upper-lip", in 1966, just in time for the fabled "summer of love" (1967), I escaped from mono-cultural (at that time - apart from the 'beatniks' and the 'mods' and 'rockers' ) Dorset, and went to live in the multicultural, hippy-rastafarian, ghetto around the Ladbroke Grove area of London. There weren't many "stiff-upper-lippers" around there. I think that experience probably cured me of any residual "stiff-upper-lippism".

Since that time, Britain has become much more multi-cultural, anyway. But there is a fear, in some quarters, that we might sink back into more mono-cultural "stiff-upper-lippism", now that we are "brexiting".

I have never met another self-identified Epicurean person in Britain, Surely there must be some somwhere?

I didn't really encounter Epicureanism until much later. I first took notice of it after I saw two episodes of a popular philosophy series on British TV. One was about Montaigne and the other was about Epicureans. I think the thing that impressed me most (if I remember rightly) was when the presenter was filmed in the ruins of Oenoanda, saying, something like;- "Diogenes of Oenoanda had inscriptions, such as 'buying things will not make you happy', carved into the walls around the market place, and the fragments lay on the ground here for many centuries". That was when I decided that those Epicureans were probably on to something.

Oscar,

No, that is the first time I've seen 'Football Philosophers'. I noticed the Greeks won, but its a pity the goal was scored by Socrates. Thanks for posting it. I have seen the 'Life of Brian' many times - It's one of my favourite films.

I first took notice of Epicurus after I saw a TV program called 'Epicurus on Happiness', which was episode 2 of a series called 'Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness', presented by Alain de Botton. It was taken from his book entitled 'The Consolations of Philosophy'.

I've just looked that up on wikipedia. I didn't remember it, and I haven't read the book.

The only part of the program I actually remembered was the bit about Diogenes of Oenoanda. Since then I have read some books by, and about, Epicurus and the Epicureans. Most recently I have read 'Epicurus and the Pleasant Life' by Haris Dimitriadis, which I find especially interesting because it make a link between Epicurus' philosophy and modern neurobiology, which I also find interesting.

I know that the Fragments of Diogenes of Oenoanda have been published in a book edited by C.W. Chilton, and probably in 'Epicurus' in Lycia' by Pamela Gordon. But I haven't read either of those books yet because I haven't managed to get hold of them. Also, I haven't yet read David Sedley's 'Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom', even though he is a fellow brit.